1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a computer network for the configuration, installation, monitoring, error diagnosis and/or error analysis of plural technical-physical processes. These may be in particular electrical drive processes which run under control, regulation and/or monitoring by plural process computer nodes (in the example of an electric drive system: drive regulator). The process computer nodes are connected to at least one diagnosis computer node via a shared communication system. In the diagnosis computer node, one or more configuration, monitoring and diagnosis services or functions is/are implemented, which are allocated to the processes and/or the process computer nodes and/or to the data processing operations running therein.
The invention further relates to a diagnosis computer node for the said network. This is formed as a server with interfaces for at least one database and for communication with at least the process computer nodes and with other client computer nodes. The invention further relates to a communication computer node or a communication module, the latter being formed as a software and/or firmware module, which is respectively suitable for use in the said network.
2. Description of the Related Art
From a conference volume to accompany the congress “SPS IPC Drives”, which took place in Nürnberg in November 2001, the technical article “Info-Portal für anlagenübergreifende Prozessvisualisierung und -management via Internet” (authors: Andreas Kitzler und Werner Felten) was disclosed. This proposed a communication structure in which plural, mutually independent automation systems, cells or appliances may be combined, monitored, visualised and the like via an information port. At the information port, access can be gained to the Internet. The communication between the automation cells (known as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition—SCADA) on the one hand and the central web server of the information port on the other is effected via standard interfaces on the basis of the extensible mark-up language XML. To this end, each automation system is provided with what is known as an XML-agent for communication with the information port on the basis of TCP-IP. Thus management should be able to evaluate in a qualified manner various automation cells or SCADA systems via the web. However, the individual sensor data have to be collected on the level specific to them, prepared there and made available to the information port via the XML agent before they can be transported from the information port via the web.
From DE 196 14 748 (A1-published and unexamined specification, and C2-patent specification), an error diagnosis system is known in which a diagnosis computer node communicates via plural bus systems also on the basis of the communication protocol TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/Interface Program) with control station computer, control process computer and field process computers. For communication between the field process computers on the one hand and the diagnosis computer node on the other, a serial field bus according to the standard RS485 is used, wherein the diagnosis computer node dominates the serial field bus (RS485) according to the master/slave principle. The bandwidth for the data transmission (RS485 interfaces) is not sufficient with the increasing data inundation. The data to be presented on the user interface cannot be transmitted quickly enough due to the ring communication structure within a field process computer cluster. It takes about 50-60 ms to scan one parameter—in appliances with about 500 drives, for example, any error occurring would only be notified after more than a minute. Each parameter is transmitted individually, and the transmission of software packages is not possible.